Gallardo, Brewers lose 4-2 to Cardinals

Milwaukee Brewers starting pitcher Yovani Gallardo, right, stands on the mound as St. Louis Cardinals' Matt Holliday, left, rounds the bases on a solo home run during the third inning of a baseball game Tuesday in St. Louis.

ST. LOUIS  Three months ago, Yovani Gallardo was six outs shy of throwing a no-hitter against the St. Louis Cardinals.

That's the only time the Milwaukee Brewers' 15-game winner has had any success against them. Jon Jay and Matt Holliday homered in the third inning to back six scoreless innings from Kyle Lohse on eight days' rest in the Cardinals' 4-2 victory on Tuesday night.

Gallardo dropped to 1-7 with a 5.66 ERA for his career against the Cardinals, the lone victory on May 7 in St. Louis when he allowed just one hit in eight innings, a single by Daniel Descalso to start the eighth.

"I don't even think about things like that," Gallardo said. "Who knows, I could have gone out and thrown a no-hitter. That's how this game is.

"It just seems like I make a mistake and they take advantage of it."

Gallardo (15-10) gave up three runs in six innings, and has allowed six home runs in 10 2-3 innings over his last two starts, both losses to the Cardinals. He gave up only three his previous seven starts combined.

"Every game's a different game, every start's a different start," Gallardo said. "You've just got to go out there and give your team a chance, take care of your job."

Lohse (13-8), who leads the Cardinals in victories, gave up four hits, struck out six and walked three. He was pushed back two days behind Chris Carpenter and Jake Westbrook after giving up four runs in five innings in a win against Pittsburgh in his last start.

Nyjer Morgan had three hits and Jonathan Lucroy had an RBI double in the eighth for the Brewers, who lead the Central by 9½ games with 19 to play after their four-game winning streak was snapped. Corey Hart extended his hitting streak to 18 games for Milwaukee, which is a major-league best 40-16 since July 6 — with six of the losses against the Cardinals.

The Brewers thought wind blowing in from center robbed them of three homers against Lohse. But they didn't get upset, either.

"The elements played their part," Morgan said. "It's all good. we'll come back tomorrow and bring it to them."

Hart flied out twice to the warning track in center and Ryan Braun also flied out to the track in center in the fifth, all against Lohse.

"Oh yeah, we would have had a lot of runs if we were in our ballpark," Roenicke said. "Braunie really crushed his, but then again Holliday hammered his ball, too. The elements sometimes work against you."

Morgan, the Brewers' center fielder, said Holliday could have had a second homer on a flyout to the track ending the fifth.

"I was ready to break back and the next thing you know I had to hit the brakes," Morgan said. "Everything hit to center, that thing was dying."

Jason Motte allowed three hits and Prince Fielder's RBI single in the ninth before earning his third save in six chances in a September shot at closing. The run ended a streak of 21 consecutive scoreless appearances for Motte, and also was the first earned run he allowed in 34 appearances since June 24. Fernando Salas, who has 23 saves in 28 chances, got the first two outs in the seventh.

Lance Berkman, who struck out three times against Gallardo the last meeting, gave the Cardinals the lead with an RBI in the first. Jay hit his 10th homer with one out in the third and Holliday hit his 22nd just inside the right-field foul pole with two outs.

Of the three pitches, Gallardo only wanted a do-over on Holliday.

"He gave up three runs, that's not too bad," manager Ron Roenicke said. "I thought he threw the ball pretty good. His fastball missed a couple spots and it hurt him.

"His curveball was outstanding."

The Cardinals had three straight singles off Kameron Loe with one out the seventh with Jay getting the RBI before Albert Pujols hit into his major-league leading 26th double play. The Cardinals lead the majors with 151 — 15 shy of the major league record held by the 1958 Cardinals.

NOTES: Zack Greinke (14-5) opposes Chris Carpenter (8-9) in the finale of a three-game series. Carpenter is 5-6 with a 5.05 ERA in 14 career starts against Milwaukee and is 1-2 with a 5.68 ERA in three starts this year. ... Lohse beat the Brewers for the first time in four decisions at home. ... Hart doubled to lead off the game and singled to start the ninth and is batting .359 (28-for-78) with five homers and nine RBIs.